I was flying home on SAS today when I had the perfect chance to get an air to air shot , sadly I was eating and didn't catch the MD-82 going past us but then 15 mins later I got another chance This time a LH 744 came directly toward us and I had my camera handy.

Now im not great with editing and not great with a steady hand. But I have a feeling this could be a baddistance resulting in a rejection this is the best quality I can get from my editing standards it has been handed to professionals since... But what are the standards to an air to air shot for acceptance?

Quoting Apuneger (Reply 6):what lens did you use for that photo. I always wonder if people would react when putting the 100-400mm against the window

I did something like that on my flight to LHR on a BA 319. We were in holding and I saw a BA 757 flying next to and VERY CLOSE to us. I quickly got out my cam (300D + 70-200 with that black hood on it). As the 757 was kind of above us, I was sitting on the ground and halfway under the seat in front of me.
It took me some time to explain the Canadian lady sitting next to me what I was doing haha

Aircraft windows are a real pain to shoot through. Every time I try to get an air-to-air I shoot about 50 to 100 frames and maybe one or two work out. Flightdeck windows play extra havoc due to the heating elements and squashed bugs!

Whenever I pull out my 100-400 to try snap one I have to endure the 'compensation' jokes about the size of my......car.

I am no expert on this though I have recently had a few air to ground shots accepted, the first I've taken in years.
The window glass is a pain and vibration is also a problem. The dilemma is that you need to get as close as possible to the glass to minimise its effects but you must not actually touch it as the vibration of the aircraft is then transmitted to the camera (try it, you really can feel it) and that would only exaggerate the problem when using a long lens. I actually use the heel of my hand to keep the camera a mm or so off the window. A rubber lens hood would undoubtedly be even better for keeping cabin reflections down too.
Heat haze at 30+ thousand feet and a temperature of -40C, I think not.
Vibration is however a definate maybe.
Mick Bajcar